transferring car to another state (license plate question) (sales, brokers)

[DanielChang]

So, I know that in NC we need to turn in the license plate when we transfer ownership of the car. I'm transferring my vehicle to a family member and will need to ship the car to them. Do I take the license plate off the car here?

Does the car need a valid license plate to be shipped (does the shipping company even care about that?)

What happens when you sell a car to an out of state buyer? Is the situation different?

[teebopop]

We did not turn in our plates from PA to the NC DMV.

We had to mail them back to PA. The NC DMV did not want to have anything to do with them.

This was in July of this year ... just so you know it's relevant to their most recent policy.

This link should answer all your questions (plus you can download all the forms you will need):

NCDOT Division of Motor Vehicles: How do I title & register a vehicle?

As far as the shipping company ... each have a policy that is their own. Check with them first. When we shipped our van from CA to PA 9 years ago, the only thing they were interested in was the VIN number and our money. We used Dependable Auto ... located here.

We also used them this year to ship our other car to a relative from PA to FL.

Both times they were the least expensive and did a really great job getting the van and car to the right place on the date needed.

I had 23 quotes from various auto shipping companies across the US. Be careful when you do this and that you don't get quotes from "brokers." They don't actually ship the car, they hire an auto shipper to do it for them and they will cost you more.

My sister in FL bought the car while we were living in PA while on our way to NC. No surprises in the shipment. We did ship with the PA plates on it though so I don't think I can help you there with that issue.

Hope I've helped some.

[DanielChang]

I can't seem to figure out how to get the vehicle where its going without any license plates.

I wonder how things work with private sales from state to state (such as ebay).

[zthatzmanz28]

Don't you take the car with the plate to the buyer? Or is buyercoming here? You keep plate if you are going to get a new car...Is buyer a relative? Let them return plates to you via USPS?

Usually when I bought a car on ebay, I trailered it home.
Or buyer might get a temp plate from home state?

In Wisconsin they just put a "LAUGH" plate in rear window.

On a piece of paper or cardboard they write in capital letters LAF (License Applied For) and drive for weeks...